Bengaluru hospitals need in-house oxy generators, but high costs a barrier

Frantically trying to shore up their liquid medical oxygen stocks, the city’s private hospitals are faced with a tricky situation: Invest in in-house oxygen generators with guaranteed 24/7 supply to tide over a third wave, or continue the risky reliance on a patchy supply by inadequate cryogenic tankers.

Only a few super-specialty hospitals with over 500 beds have invested in such generators. The generators cost upwards of Rs 25 lakh based on the capacity.

This ‘huge investment’, says Dr H M Prasanna, president of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), will be financially unviable for most small and medium hospitals.

Almost 80% of the city hospitals, he says, have less than 100 beds.

“Since they work on profit margins of 10-12%, they will have no money to spare on setting up their own plants,” he explains. Besides, the financial viability of such equipment is questionable once the Covid crisis ends.

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However, industry analysts are not convinced. Preferring anonymity, one of them contends: “It is a one-time investment. They can easily recover the cost in three years. If they can afford the high cost of acquiring and periodically replacing an MRI machine worth crores, they should consider oxygen generators too.”

Installed in an area of about 600 sqft, a basic oxygen generator could supply 250 litres per minute to patients through an in-house pipeline network.

A higher capacity of 500 litres will require about 1,200 sqft. Oxygen from the inhouse plant is piped using bubble humidifiers to droppings in walls leading down to each bed and through a flowmeter, administered to patients.

The massive spike in Covid patients in dire need of oxygen has triggered a six-fold increase in liquid oxygen, says Dr Prasanna. “Every oxygen plant requires at least 20 cryogenic tankers to meet the demand from the city hospitals.” The current tanker numbers are grossly inadequate.

Despite the high cost of generators, a few big hospitals have proposed to either acquire them or scale up.

Whitefield-based Vydehi Hospital, for instance, is planning to set up one anticipating future demand.

“We have a 6 KL storage tank for liquid oxygen. But since the demand is now very high, the management is planning to install a generator,” says a hospital official.

Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road has a generator. “While the facilities in our network managed to avoid oxygen shortages that were life-threatening, we would now certainly like to significantly enhance our in-premises storage capacities,” says Dilip Jose, the hospital chain’s managing director and chief executive officer.